


The Visitor

by FrankenSpine



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Character Death, F/F, Illnesses, Mercy - Freeform, One Shot, Plot Twists, Unexpected Visitors, but it's not meant to be sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24747466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankenSpine/pseuds/FrankenSpine
Summary: When Emma, a peasant woman, provides food and shelter to an old beggar, she finds that her life has changed forever.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 99





	The Visitor

It was raining heavily outside as Emma stirred hot stew over the fire pit built into her floor. Candles flickered all around her home as the flames beneath the pot danced erratically. She paused when she thought she heard a faint knock and listened, unsure if she’d merely heard the rain hitting the door. When it happened a second time, now a bit more firmly, she went to answer the door and found an old hooded woman standing there, looking feeble and cold.

“Please, Miss,” said the old woman, “Please, may I come in for a spell? I don’t mean to impose on you, but everyone else has turned me away. I’ve no food and no place to call home.”

Emma regarded the woman with sympathy. “Yes, yes, come in. You’ve arrived just in time for supper.”

“Bless you,” said the old woman, “May I ask you your name?”

“Emma. What about you, ma’am?”

A smile graced the woman’s lips as she pulled back her hood. “Such good manners,” she said, “You may call me Regina.”

“A lovely name,” Emma said as she handed the woman a bowl of hot stew.

“As is yours,” Regina replied, “Your kindness is most refreshing, and your cooking smells wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

Regina looked around curiously. “Are you all alone here?”

Emma smiled and nodded. “I am. You aren’t the only one people have turned away. You see, I’ve no desire to be married or have children. I simply don’t see the appeal. I want to live freely, without burden. No one wants anything to do with me anyway, so why bother?”

Regina shook her head. “I cannot make sense of that. You are very kind and very beautiful. Why would they turn you away? Because you aren’t married?”

“Well, not just that,” said Emma. She sighed as she filled a cup with cool water and offered it to her guest, who took it with a grateful smile. “I fancy women above men. We are truly the fairer sex— not weaker, by any means, but much more compassionate and beautiful. Few people seem to understand that.”

“Then I suppose I am one of the few,” Regina replied, savoring the hot stew in her bowl.

Emma stared out the window and sighed. “You know, I never have any visitors. I enjoy your company, Regina.”

A smile graced the old woman’s lips. “As I enjoy yours, my dear.” She paused a moment, downing another spoonful. “Tell me, Emma,” she said, “do you fear death?”

“Death? Not particularly. It is as much a part of life as birth.”

The old woman’s smile grew a bit wider. “You are truly a wonder, dear girl. A great cook and a philosopher all the same. What more can a guest ask for?”

Emma laughed as she shook her head. “I’m not that wise,” she said.

“Ah, but the one who recognizes their lack of wisdom is, in fact, the wisest.”

“It seems there are two wise women here tonight,” said Emma, “From where do you hail, Regina?”

There was a knowing look in the old woman’s eyes. “I hail from the Earth itself, my dear. The world at large is my home. The rocks are my bones, the rivers are my veins, and the rain is my sorrow.”

Emma’s brows furrowed, only for a moment, before her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell agape. She stared at the old woman in awe, struggling to find her voice.

 _“G-Goddess,”_ she murmured.

Regina’s eyes gleamed brightly as she stood, discarding her tattered cloak. When she did, she was no longer an old woman, but a young and impossibly-beautiful being in a flowing white dress. She smiled lovingly at Emma, who could do nothing but gape at her.

“Your kindness shall be rewarded, sweet Emma. Of the dozens who reside here, only _you_ welcomed a stranger into your home, and you did so with open arms. I can say with absolute certainty that you are _truly_ pure of heart.”

She brought her hands to caress Emma’s pale face and pressed her lips to the blonde’s in a feather-light kiss.

“I thank you for your hospitality. I will give you whatever you desire, be it riches, status, or power. You need only name it.”

Emma blinked quickly, shaking her head. “N-No,” she said, “No, I don’t want any of that.” She offered a hopeful smile. “All I want is your company. I’d like the two of us to be friends.”

“Oh, Emma, you precious girl,” murmured the Goddess, “You have _always_ been my friend. I have watched you since you were young. From the moment you could speak, you thanked the sky for rain, apologized to the river for taking fish, and cried over every stag your father brought home from the fields. Your respect for this world is unlike any I have seen before.” She pulled Emma into a warm embrace. “I am the Goddess of the Earth, and you, Emma, are my _greatest_ friend.”

Tears welled in Emma’s eyes. “Are you leaving me, Goddess?”

The Goddess offered a smile and shook her head, wiping the tears from Emma’s cheeks. “No, dear girl,” she murmured, “I have always been with you, and I always will be. I am the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky. The wind is my breath, the sun is my heart, and the moon is my soul. No matter where you go, I will be there.”

Emma took a deep breath. “You said the rain was your sorrow. What is it that makes you cry, Goddess?”

The Goddess’ smile fell, and her expression became somber. “Mankind is destroying what I have given them. They pollute the oceans and the rivers, killing the life within, and they are cutting down more trees than they are planting. If they continue, there will be no trees left, and they will have no water to drink or bathe in. They will all die. It saddens me more than you can possibly imagine.”

Emma took hold of the Goddess’ warm hands. “We’re killing the planet. We’re killing _you,”_ she rasped, visibly distraught, “What must I do, Goddess? How can I stop this?”

“Leave that to me, sweet one,” said the Goddess, “I came here tonight to warn you: I am going to flood this valley. That is why the rain is so heavy tonight. You must leave this place at once.”

 _“What?_ But what about everyone else?”

“I tried to tell them,” the Goddess replied, “but as I said, they all turned me away. You are the last light within this dark world, dear Emma. I will take you up into the hills, where you will be untouched by the flood.”

“What about my home?”

The Goddess smiled. “We shall create a new one,” she said, _“together.”_

Emma hesitated. “The others,” she said quietly, “will they survive?”

“We shall see.”

“Please, Goddess, spare the villagers.”

The Goddess thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Very well. No harm shall come to them. I give you my word.”

And the Goddess stayed true to her promise. That night, the villages and those surrounding it were flooded and destroyed, but the people survived. So, too, did the Goddess vanish. Still, her essence thrived, just as she had said it would. Her soft breath enveloped Emma in the wind, she touched the blonde by reaching out in the form of a tree branch, and she sang beautifully through the sparrows.

Years passed, and Emma was content with her life. Even if the Goddess did not speak to her directly, she knew their friendship was still as strong as ever. One day, when Emma was old and gray— much like the woman who’d shown up at her door all those years ago— she fell ill and began coughing endlessly. Winter came, and her strength was not what it once was. She tried to maintain her life of solitude, fetching her own water and cooking her own supper, but eventually, the time came for her to seek another’s aid. By chance, the Goddess returned to her in the flesh.

“Goddess,” she rasped, “you have returned. Must you have waited so long?”

“I was always here, Emma,” the Goddess said with a fond smile. She clasped her youthful hands around Emma’s frail fingers. “I swore to you that I always would be.”

“Yes, yes, but couldn’t you have appeared to me like this? In the form of a woman?”

“I have, dear, in your dreams.”

“Oh. I see. Well, I rarely recall them.”

Emma tried to sit up, but fell into a coughing fit and lied back down, turning away so as to not subject the Goddess to her illness.

“I’m dying,” she said quietly, “I won’t last much longer.”

The Goddess regarded her with a look of remorse and sympathy. “I am sorry, Emma. I wish there was something I could do.”

Emma turned to look up at the brunette with tears in her eyes. “Put an end to my suffering, Goddess. Please. Let me ascend to the Heavens, so that I may live on among the stars.”

“Are you certain that is what you want?”

Emma offered a small nod. “Please,” she said once more, “This is no way to live. Death will be merciful, certainly so at your hand, sweet Goddess.”

With only a moment of hesitation, the Goddess placed her hand to Emma’s forehead, and the dying woman took one final breath before slipping away peacefully. The Goddess gently closed Emma’s eyes and the old woman’s body vanished from the quiet dwelling, reemerging within a small grave beneath a tall apple tree next to the river where the old village had once stood.

As Emma regained awareness, she found herself peering down from the Heavens at the world below. It was truly a sight to behold. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and turned to find the Goddess standing behind her with a loving smile.

“Welcome, sweet one,” murmured the Goddess, “I see you’ve taken a youthful form again.”

“What?”

Emma blinked in surprise when she saw that her body was not only glowing brightly, but that she was, in fact, a young woman once more. She smiled joyously and embraced the Goddess, whose lips met hers in a soft kiss.

“I know you’ve always been with me,” she whispered, “but I’m still overjoyed to see you in the flesh.”

The Goddess’ smile widened. “I understand, Emma. I, too, am pleased to have you here. I will never leave your side.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“What if you need to return to Earth?”

“Darling, I _am_ the Earth. This form is merely a projection of my true self. I have many different vessels. I am everywhere. I am everything. Perhaps I am even every _one.”_

Emma was baffled. “I— _what?”_

The Goddess chuckled. “Merely a jest, my dear. My spirit does not possess the bodies of mortals. I did, however, create you. Every last one of you. Of all the lives I have created, and all the souls I have guided into the Heavens, you are my favorite. I knew you would be, even before you were conceived. I see what was, what is, and what will be.”

“So you already knew I would invite you in all those years ago?”

“But of course.”

“Then why test me at all?”

“Because, dear Emma,” said the Goddess, “fate must take its course as it is meant to. Such is life.”


End file.
